Thomas P. O’Neill, Jr.

Thomas P. O’Neill, Jr. (1912-1994), American political leader and speaker of the United States House of Representatives (1977-1987). O'Neill was born in an Irish working-class neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts. During his childhood, O'Neill acquired the nickname “Tip” after the baseball player James (Tip) O'Neill. Upon graduating from Boston College in 1936, he was elected as a Democrat to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He served several terms and in 1949 became speaker of the house.

In 1952 O'Neill was elected to the United States House of Representatives. During his second term, he was appointed to the powerful House Rules Committee. In 1967, as chair of the committee, O'Neill openly opposed President Lyndon B. Johnson's Vietnam War policies. Despite his antiwar stance, O'Neill was reelected. He was appointed assistant majority leader in 1971 and majority leader in 1973. As majority leader, O'Neill was the most prominent Democrat to demand the investigation and impeachment of President Richard M. Nixon, who resigned from office in 1974.

O'Neill became speaker of the United States House of Representatives in 1977, the year Democrat Jimmy Carter became president. In 1981 Republican Ronald Reagan succeeded Carter as president, and O'Neill became a leading opponent of the new administration's domestic and defense policies. O'Neill retired in 1987. With author William Novak, O'Neill wrote about his career in Man of the House (1987).